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"If you're going to panic, do it fast and beat the crowd." ~ Jesse Livermore

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Fiscal Cliff, Debt Limit, Fiscal Crisis, Debt Crisis . . .

Retirees face their own 'fiscal cliff' | Zanesville Times Recorder | zanesvilletimesrecorder.com: "Three out of four Americans near 65 have less than $30,000 in retirement savings. Inadequate savings is just part of a troublesome litany. Teresa Ghilarducci, an economist at the New School for Social Research, calculates that half of retirees are destined to live near poverty and will have to live on a food budget of about $5 per day. The values of houses — often the big asset that anchors a retirement strategy — dropped, on average, by 17 percent from 2007 to 2010. Wages have stagnated, too. Only about half of American adults have any retirement savings at all."

White House delays 2014 budget after "fiscal cliff" standoff
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House will delay submission of its budget proposal to Congress for fiscal year 2014 because of the protracted fight over the "fiscal cliff," according to an official in President Barack Obama's budget office. Jeffrey ...

SF Fed chief says 'fiscal cliff' still at top of list of concerns
San Jose Mercury News
HALF MOON BAY -- Worries about whether and how U.S. lawmakers will take the hard steps needed to put the nation on a sustainable fiscal path are top of mind as U.S. central bankers weigh monetary policy, a top Federal Reserve official said on Monday.

Bernanke: 'Not Out of the Woods' Despite Cliff Deal
CNBC.com
Although the "fiscal cliff" deal made "some progress" in resolving the nation's debt problem, "we're not out of the woods yet," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday. "We are approaching a number of other fiscal critical watersheds ...
CNBC.com

Sequester of US defense next fiscal crisis to avert
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Sequester of U.S. defense next fiscal crisis to avert. OUR VIEW. Published: Monday, January 14, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.. Last Modified: Friday, January 11, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.. The fiscal-cliff mess that Congress and the White House faced on New Year's Day was ...

Bernanke urges Congress to raise the debt limit
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Monday warned Congress that it needed to raise the debt limit so the U.S. could pay its bills and not face default, which he said would be “very, very costly to our economy.” Speaking just a few ...

Obama: No negotiations with GOP over debt ceiling
Washington Post
President Obama vowed Monday that he would not negotiate with Republicans over the federal debt ceiling, warning that Social Security checks would be delayed and the nation could enter a new recession if Republicans do not agree to raise the limit on ...
Washington Post

Geithner Says Debt Limit Steps May Run Out by Mid-February
Bloomberg
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said so-called extraordinary measures he's taking to avoid breaching the debt ceiling would work only until mid- February to early March and warned that failure by Congress to raise the limit could “impose ...

Dems hold a trump card in debt limit showdown
Washington Post (blog)
Some Republicans seem to believe they have a clever endgame in the debt ceilingfight: The House GOP passes a bill that includes a debt limit hike and deep cuts to entitlements, and then goes home, challenging Senate Dems and the White House not to ...

Obama Warns Republicans on Debt Limit
Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—The next phase in the bitter, two-year-long battle between the White House and congressional Republicans began in earnest Monday, with President Barack Obama and GOP leaders digging in over spending and the debt limit. Mr. Obama ...
Wall Street Journal

History lesson: Why did Congress create a national debt limit?
Washington Post (blog)
(Jay Mallin/Bloomberg). Now that the Treasury Department has nixed the odd idea of issuing a platinum coin to get around the federal debt limit, Congress once again will be forced to decide whether to raise the debt limit. When this issue last loomed ...

Obama Warns Of Dangerous Consequences If Debt Limit Isn't Raised
NPR
Obama Warns Of Dangerous Consequences If Debt Limit Isn't Raised. by Ari Shapiro. January 14, 2013 3:00 PM. Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET. January 14, 2013. President Obama gave the last ...

Obama: US debt crisis looms
Bangkok Post
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama warned of a new economiccrisis Monday and said global stock markets would go "haywire" unless Republicans in Congress agree to raise the US sovereign debt ceiling. "To even entertain the idea of this happening ...
Bangkok Post

MassMutual takes on student loan debt crisis
PRWeek
SPRINGFIELD, MA: MassMutual Insurance has launched a Facebook campaign to help Millennials manage student loan debt. The “Down with Debt” initiative, which will run through February 14, is encouraging college graduates and young professionals to ...

Who'll get paid during a debt crisis?
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader
WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2011, when a debt crisis like the current one loomed, President Barack Obama warned Republicans that older Americans might not get their Social Security checks unless there was a deal to raise the nation's borrowing...